So my folks took my siblings and I to visit Kyoto in 2004 specifically to see the family my mom had stayed with in the 70s for an exchange program. While there she and my dad made a huge point to go see a specific woodblock print shop that my mom said was famous and that she had visited before.
I was 12/13 at the time so my memory is a bit fuzzy but I believe the shop was called The Red Lantern (and google sort of backs this up as I can find books put out by "the red lantern shop" about woodblock printing).
I was wondering anyone could help me track down the specific old address? I would love to go back and visit in an upcoming trip I have planned even if its just to walk down the street. My dad has passed and my mom's memory is not what it was but it would be meaningful to me to just be there again.
by bug0058
1 comment
Hmmm… it would be interesting and probably unusual (but not impossible) if it were called the “Red Lantern” because red lanterns (“aka-chochin”) usually indicate a drinking establishment in Japan, such as an izakaya, rather than an art gallery or fine art store.
In Kyoto, there are a couple of main streets/areas for shops that sell antiques and things like woodblock prints (mokuhanga or ukiyo-e) – Shinmonzen-dori and Furumonzen-dori, and Teramachi.
Shinmonzen-dori and Furumonzen-dori are two parallel streets in the Higashiyama (eastern mountain) district. The two streets are well-known for their antique shops and there are some ukiyo-e galleries/stores there, such as Ezoshi and a couple of others:
[https://en.japantravel.com/kyoto/shinmonzen-and-furumonzen-streets/6057](https://en.japantravel.com/kyoto/shinmonzen-and-furumonzen-streets/6057)
[https://maps.app.goo.gl/Y51H6wAQ4KaqNRmPA](https://maps.app.goo.gl/Y51H6wAQ4KaqNRmPA)
Teramachi is more centrally-located in Kyoto’s main shopping area and is a long, covered shotengai (shopping street) that runs at right angles to the popular Nishiki market street in the Nakagyo district. Again, there are antique stores, old jewellery stores, ukiyo-e shops and similar places. Interestingly, there’s a parallel shopping street called Shinkyogoku that, in contrast to Teramachi, has lots of shops selling cheap tourist trinkets.
[https://www.insidekyoto.com/teramachi-shinkyogoku-shopping-arcades-kyoto](https://www.insidekyoto.com/teramachi-shinkyogoku-shopping-arcades-kyoto)
[https://maps.app.goo.gl/e2j1HoecoVR6MyLR8](https://maps.app.goo.gl/e2j1HoecoVR6MyLR8)
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